December 2012 - Minnesota Economic Trends

This issue of Minnesota Economic Trends includes three stories about the connection between education and employment. We analyzed Bureau of Labor Statistics data to compare unemployment rates based on education levels in Minnesota, looked at Quarterly Workforce Indicators data to determine which industries in Minnesota have the most highly educated workforces and which have the least educated workers. Finally, we compared the pay of construction and health care workers in Minnesota before and after they went back to school for more training in their fields.

The December issue also includes a cover story about careers in the growing social media industry and an article about where the long-term unemployed are finding work.

As the Returning to Work article shows, the dramatic increase in the number and share of long-term unemployed is a distinctive feature of the recent recession, and it will have lingering effects far into the future.